In which dark clouds continue to gather...

Today I encountered a day-old Bangkok Post which informed me that the leader of last year's military coup, General Sonthi, is considering becoming Deputy Prime Minister in order to help keep the government on track. This, despite his insistence that the government would be run by civilians. Last week he fired all military officials who were considered to be loyal to the ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and replaced them with Sonthi devotees. Last month the main pro-Thaksin TV station was shut down, ostensibly for non-payment of licence fees, and replaced with a more coup-friendly broadcaster. And I've read, increasingly, that "unnamed figures" high within the military bureaucracy are pressing the "civilian" government to use its expanding powers to crack down on the feeble pro-democracy protests that spring up from time to time in Bangkok.

Nearly seven months ago, when the coup happened, we were told that by now Thailand would be putting the finishing touches on its renovated democracy and preparing for shiny new elections. But there's not a whole lot in the above paragraph that sounds like the actions of a military government in the process of giving up its power - despite all promises to the contrary. I'm going to park myself in front of a stack of newspapers and see if I can make sense of all this. In the meantime, I promise that when I leave in August and the military government is still firmly clenched to the reins, I'm going to have a romping great round of I Told You So. I will start, with no small amount of dripping contempt, with the half-dozen Western aid workers who've schmuckishly told me that they actually cheered the coup. Idiots.